Your Newcastle United headlines for Monday, June 27.
Botman announcement due
Sven Botman is on Tyneside and has completed his medical ahead of a £32million move to Newcastle. The defender was at the Magpies’ Benton training ground being put through his paces before heading to St James’ Park.
Signing Botman will end a long-winded transfer saga that stretches back to January when Newcastle failed to get their man. Six months on and the Dutchman is on the verge of becoming United’s third summer arrival.
He follows Nick Pope and Matt Targett through the door as the Saudi-backed revolution under Eddie Howe continues.
New sleeve sponsor
Newcastle’s social media team trolled the fanbase by announcing noon.com as the club’s new sleeve sponsor bang on 7pm. Supporters are desperate to see Botman unveiled as a Toon player after completing his medical.
Those with notifications switched on would have thought the wait was finally over when @NUFC tweeted an official announcement. However, the tweet was to acknowledge noon.com as the sleeve sponsor for 2022-23.
The online shopping giant is a behemoth in the Middle East and is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Chief of staff Ali Kafil-Hussain said: "We are extremely proud to become a key strategic partner of Newcastle United, one of the most famous clubs in world football.
"We look forward to working with Newcastle United as a club with a strong sense of community and a vibrant history.”
Fonte on Botman
Jose Fonte - Botman’s centre-back partner at Lille - has backed his former teammate to succeed in the Premier League. The Portuguese international played alongside Botman for two seasons at Les Dogues.
“I only have good things to say about him,” he told talkSPORT. “A great guy, a great personality and a hard worker.
“He’s tall, he’s considerably fast, he has a great left foot, he gives great balls between the lines and he reads the game very well. Listen, I loved every time, every game that we played together.
“He’s good now offensively too, he has improved. He scores goals. I think he can deal with the Premier League. For sure it’s going to be a great test for him, but I think he can deal with it, 100%.”
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